Muhammad and The Jews — Page 27
THE JEWS OF ARABIA ON THE EVE OF THE Hijrah names. Banii Za"iira seems to be the only exception. "Jewish names such as "Adiya, Samau"al, Sara are comparatively rare". 1 The proportion in which the Arab element was mixed with the Jews is difficult to determine, but probably purely Arab tribes had embraced Judaism. 2 Graetz observes : Intermarriage between the two nations tended to heighten the similarity of their characters. Like the Himyarites, the Jews of southern Arabia app lied themselves more particularly to the trade between India, the Byzantine empire and Persia. The Jews of northern Arabia, on the contrary, led the life of Bedouins; they occupied themselves with agriculture, cattle breeding, transport of caravan traffic in weapons, and probably also the calling of robbers. 3 Graetz' view that the Jews of northern Arabia did not take part in trade seems to be based on the silence of Jewish sources on the subject. But Yathrib was on the caravan route, and it is improbable that the rich Jews of the region with their agricultural produce, their jewellery and arms industry, and-above all-capital would not trade with Syria. Wolfenson has referred to the possibility of wide trading contacts between the Jews of Yathrib and the Christian tribes of Ghassiin, the Syrian auxiliaries of the Byzantine Empire. 4 Shaban concurs with the view and observes : In the light of close connections between the Medinan Jews and other Jewish communities in Arabia it is not unreasonable to suggest that a Jewish trade network existed there at. the time. 5 He further points out that These connections extended as far north as with Adhraciit in Syria, and at least as far as Najriin in the south. 6 The Jews of Arabia, as Graetz observes, enjoyed complete liberty. They concluded offensive and defensive alliances and carried on feuds. 1 Horovitz, Islamic Culture, Vol. III (1929), p. 187. 2 Ibn Wii<;lih al-Ya"'qubi, Ta'rikh, ed. by M. Th. Houtsma {Leiden, 1883), Vol. I, pp. 49-52. 3 Graetz, Vol. III, p. 57. 4 Wolfenson, Ta'rikh al-Yahildfl Biliid al-"' Arab, p. 60. 0 M. A. Shaban, Islamic History A. D. 600-750 (A. H. 132) : A New Interpretation {Cambridge, 1971), p. 10. 6 [bid. 27